Apparatus for separating pollutants and obtaining separate liquids &amp; solids

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for and method of sterilizing and separating solids from liquids in a slurry of sewage wherein said slurry is heated under a high pressure to a high temperature and then released into a low pressure atmosphere whereby the liquids in said heated slurry will burst into a vapor and the solids will be reduced to a fine powder for non-polluting disposal.

llnlled Slales palem Burnett 1 1 Apr. 24, 1973 1541 APPARATUS FORSEPARATING 2.572.321 111/1951 1x1111851 .159 47 LLUT T AND ()BT HNKN2,925,127 2/1960 Sargent c1111.. 3,234,994 2/1966 Dance SEPARATE LIQUIDSSOLHDS 3,323,575 6/1967 Greenfield ..203/1OO X [75] Inventor: Henry J.Burnett, West Hartford. 3,361,648 1/1968 Brown et a1. ..203/11 Conn3,388,230 6/1968 Cunningham et a1. ..2l9/10.5l 3,545,518 12/1970Kohlmann ..159/2 R [73] Ass1gnee: Pollutant Separation Ina, Elmwood,

Conn Primary ExaminerN0rman Yudkoff [22] Flled: 1971 AssistantExaminer,1. Sofer 2 App| 117 20 Att0rneyL0uis V. Lucia 152] US. Cl..l59/2, 159/1 R, 159/44, [57] ABSTRACT 159/46, 159/D1G. 26, 202/180,202/181, 202/179, 202/198, 202/233, 203/88, 203/100 An apparatus for andmethod of sterilizing and 51 1111. C1. ..1B0ld 1/28, BOld 3/42,BO1d1/00, scpawtmg sollds from llqulds m Slurry Of sewage 301 3 14 301 3 3013 0 wherein said slurry is heated under a high pressure to 58 Field ofSearch ..159/1 3, high temperature and released into a 10w p 159/ 2 DIG1 mg 24; 202/17 177 sure atmosphere whereby the liquids in said heated179, 180, 185, 195, 197 205 181 182; slurry will burst into a vapor andthe solids will be 203/22 23 27 83 91 100 1 1 reduced to a fine powderfor non-polluting disposal.

[56] References Cited 4 (Ilaims, 1 Drawing Figure UNITED STATES PATENTS2,060,039 11/1936 Clapp ..2l9/10.65

HIGH PRESSURE SURGE TANK PRIMARY TRANSFORMER HIGH PRESSURE HEATING COIL(SECONDARY) SOLIDS RESIDUE TEMP CONTROLLED SWITCH AND VALVE SLURRYCOLLECTING TANK GRiNDER 5/ PUMP Q FLOAT? SWITCH CONDENSING TANKCONDENSING CONDENSATE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION SUMMARY OF THEINVENTION The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus forsterilizing and separating pollutants from liquids and utilizeselectrical induction heating means, such as described in my US. Pat. No.3,477,359 dated Nov. 1 l, 1969, for heating a slurry of pollutingliquids and solids under high pressure to a high sterilizing temperaturefar above the boiling point of liquidsat sea level to thoroughlysterilize the slurry and reduce the pollutants to a non-polluting state.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION flow rate controlling valve ILFromthe coiled pipe 13, the slurry is forced through the pipe 17 into a heattransfer jacket 18 which surrounds the solids residue discharge pipe 19.

From said jacket, the slurry passes through the pipe to the heattransfer coiled pipe 21, that is contained with the condensing tank 22,and from said coiled pipe through the pipe 23 and the check valve 24therein to O the high velocity circulating pump 25. This pump It is anobject of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for treatingsewage which will require a small amount of space so that it can be usedon ships and in buildings and even on vessels smaller than ships wherethe separated sterilized liquids, such as water, can be easily disposedof over the side and the residue from the solids are reduced to thestate of a sterile fine powder which can be easily stored in containersfor later disposal on land or even used as a fertilizer, so that it willnot be necessary to dump the said residue into the waters where it couldcause pollution.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel method andapparatus for heating sewage to a high temperature to sterilize saidsewage and separate the solids from the liquids therein without causingair pollution.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will be more clearlyunderstood from the following description and the accompanying drawing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As shown in said drawing, my improvedapparatus is form which is particularly suited for ships and the likeand which includes a sewage receiving tank 5 in which raw sewage isreceived from such as toilets, galleys and laundries throughout theship.

A grinder pump 6 takes the raw sewage of liquids and solids from saidreceiving tank, grinds it into a slurry collecting tank 7 which isprovided with a float operated electric switch 8 for controlling theoperation of the apparatus. From said collecting tank, the slurry isdrawn through the cold slurry inlet pipe 9 by a high pressure pump 10and forced, through a flowrate control valve 11 and a check valve 12into a coiled pipe 13 in a heat transfer and condensate tank 14. Aby-pass pipe 15, having a check valve 16, is provided to bypass theslurry from the pipe 9 which is held back by the forces the slurrythrough the high pressure heating pipe coil 26 and then through the pipe27 into the high pressure high temperature pipe coil that is containedwithin a vaporizing chamber 29 in a vaporizing tank 30 that isconnected, through a vapor duct 31, to the condensing tank 22.

From said high pressure high temperature coil 28, the slurry is forcedthrough the pipe 32 into the closed high pressure surge tank 33 which isconnected to the pipe 23 by a re-circulating pipe 34 having a checkvalve 35 therein.

The said surge tank is also connected to the vaporizing tank 30 by apipe 36 which extends through a motor-controlled valve 37 and has asuitable nozzle 38 for spraying the highly heated slurry into thevaporizing chamber 29; said valve 37 being controlled by a suitableadjustable thermostat 39 which has a thermocouple probe 40 that extendsinto the slurry in the surge tank and is responsive to the temperaturethereof to control the operation of the thermostat for causing operationof the valve;

The pipe coil 26 forms a short circuited secondary coil by means of ashort circuiting rod 26a, which coil is insulated from and surrounds theprimary coil 41a of an electric transformer 41 and the said pipe coil isthereby heated by electrical conduction.

It is well known that water can be heated to 706 F. under a pressure ofapproximately 3,250 psi. However, in the use of my improved method andapparatus the slurry is forced into the pipe system of the apparatus bythe pump 10 with a'pressure on the order of 4,000 psi, in order tomaintain at least the 3,250 psi required, and said pressure ismaintained in said system by means of the temperature controlled switch37.

The slurry is then heated under said pressure within the pipe coil 26 bythe electrical induction in the transformer 41 and circulated throughthe pipe coils 26 and 28 and the surge tank 33 by the pump 25; saidslurry reaching the level indicated at 42 in the closed surge tank andleaving an air cushion in the space above said level.

Due to the slurry being under the high pressure of 4,000 psi, it isheated in the pipe coil 26 to a temperature far above the boiling pointand the thermostat 39 is set to open the valve 37 when the slurry insaid surge tank reaches a temperature on the order of 706 F., which isthe critical temperature at which the aqueous portion of the slurry willcompletely vaporize, the slurry will be forced, by the 4,000 psipressure, through the pipe 36 and the nozzle 38 into the low pressurevaporizing chamber 29 wherein the pressure is substantially lower. Thissudden release of the highly heated slurry from the high pressure of thesurge tank into the low pressure of the vaporizing chamber will causethe liquids in the slurry to rapidly expand, or burst, into a vaporwhich will separate from the solids in the slurry and the said solidswill then precipitate about the highly heated pipe coil 28 in the formof fine dust which is then thoroughly dried, by the heat from said coil,and settles on the bottom of the tank 30 where it can accumulate.

In order to empty said dust from the tank 30, there may be provided asuitable measuring valve 43 which is rotated by a motor 44 tosuccessively open an opening in the bottom of the tank 30, receive ameasure of the dust, close said opening, empty the dust into thedischarge pipe 19 and then close off said pipe, before again opening thetank opening, to thereby prevent the dust from being forcibly blown outof the outlet pipe as the slurry bursts in the vaporizing chamber and toretain any vacuum that may be in said chamber; the said discharge pipebeing cooled by the cold slurry passing through the jacket 18 and angledto thereby contact and cool the dust as it slides down said pipe, fromwhich it may be emptied into a suitable receptacle 45 for laterdisposal.

The vapor resulting from the rapid expansion of the liquids will beforced, by the pressure entering the chamber 29 with the highly heatedslurry, through the duct 31 into the tank 22 wherein it will be cooledby heat transfer to the incoming slurry in the pipe coil 21 and saidvapor will then condense into water in said tank 22 to approximately thewater line indicated at 46.

From the tank 42, the water, which is still hot, will pass, through thereturn pipe 47, into the tank 14 wherein it will transfer its heat tothe cold incoming slurry in the pipe coil 13 and the cooled water willthen empty from the tank 14 through the cold water outlet pipe 48. Ifdesired, a suction pump 49 may be provided in said outlet pipe tofurther reduce the pressure in the vaporizing chamber to belowatmospheric and thereby increase the rapid expansion of the hot slurryas it enters the said chamber.

My improved apparatus provides for regenerative heating of the slurry bymeans of heat transfer from the hot vapors, condensate therefrom andseparated solids passing out through the tanks 22 and 14 in the outletpipe 19., 19, the cold slurry entering the apparatus through the pipecoil 13, the jacket 18 and the pipe coil 28; thereby greatly reducingthe amount of electric current used for heating the slurry to the hightemperature required in the surge tank to cause the vaporization of theliquids as above described as the highly heated slurry is released fromthe high pressure in said tank to the low pressure in the vaporizationchamber.

1 claim:

1. Apparatus for treating raw sewage to sterilize and separate thesolids from the liquids therein for non-polluting disposal of saidsewage, said apparatus including a sewage receiving tank for receivingraw sewage, a collecting tank, a grinding pump for grinding said sewageinto a slurry and transferring it from said sewage receiving tank intothe collecting tank, a float switch in said collecting tank forpreventing operation of said apparatus upon the absence of slurry in thecollecting tank, a condensate receiving tank, a vapor condensing tankdischarging into and connected to said condensate receiving tank, avaporizing tank having a low pressure vaporizing chamber connected tosaid condensing tank, a closed high pressure surge tank, an electrictransformer, a series of connected pipe c oils including one in each ofsaid condensate receiving and condensing tanks, a short circuited,sewage heating pipe coil forming the secondary coil of said transformerto be heated by electrical induction and connected in said series, ahigh heat coil in said vaporizing chamber also connected in said series,as well as connected to said surge tank, a high pressure pump forforcing slurry from the collecting tank through said pipe coils intosaid surge tank under high pressure, said slurry being heated to a hightemperature under high pressure while passing through said heating pipecoil, a connecting pipe between said surge tank and vaporizing chamber,and a valve in said connecting pipe operable upon the slurry in saidsurge tank reaching a predetermined high temperature to release theheated slurry from the high pressure in the surge tank to the lowpressure in the vaporizing chamber and thereby cause rapid vaporizationof the liquids in said slurry and separation of the solids therefrom;the condensate from the vapors of said liquids being discharged throughthe said condensing and condensate receiving tank and thereby preheatingthe incoming slurry passing through the pipe coils in said tanks beforebeing heated to a high temperature by said heating coil.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 including a pump for circulatingthe highly heated slurry through the heating coil, the high heat coil inthe vaporizing chamber and the surge tank.

3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 including a discharge pipe for theresidue from the separated solids in the vaporizing chamber and ameasuring valve for said residue between said chamber and pipe.

4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 including a discharge pipe for thehot residue from said vaporizing chamber, and a jacket surrounding saidpipe for preheating the incoming slurry by heat transferred from saidpipe.

1. Apparatus for treating raw sewage to sterilize and separate thesolids from the liquids therein for non-polluting disposal of saidsewage, said apparatus including a sewage receiving tank for receivingraw sewage, a collecting tank, a grinding pump for grinding said sewageinto a slurry and transferring it from said sewage receiving tank intothe collecting tank, a float switch in said collecting tank forpreventing operation of said apparatus upon the absence of slurry in thecollecting tank, a condensate receiving tank, a vapor condensing tankdischarging into and connected to said condensate receiving tank, avaporizing tank having a low pressure vaporizing chamber connected tosaid condensing tank, a closed high pressure surge tank, an electrictransformer, a series of connected pipe coils including one in each ofsaid condensate receiving and condensing tanks, a short circuited,sewage heating pipe coil forming the secondary coil of said transformerto be heated by electrical induction and connected in said series, ahigh heat coil in said vaporizing chamber also connected in said series,as well as connected to said surge tank, a high pressure pump forforcing slurry from the collecting tank through said pipe coils intosaid surge tank under high pressure, said slurry being heated to a hightemperature under high pressure while passing through said heating pipecoil, a connecting pipe between said surge tank and vaporizing chamber,and a valve in said connecting pipe operable upon the slurry in saidsurge tank reaching a predetermined high temperature to release theheated slurry from the high pressure in the surge tank to the lowpressure in the vaporizing chamber and thereby cause rapid vaporizationof the liquids in said slurry and separation of the solids therefrom;the condensate from the vapors of said liquids being discharged throughthe said condensing and condensate receiving tank and thereby preheatingthe incoming slurry passing through the pipe coils in said tanks beforebeing heated to a high temperature by said heating coil.
 2. Apparatus asset forth in claim 1 including a pump for circulating the highly heatedslurry through the heating coil, the high heat coil in the vaporizingchamber and the surge tank.
 3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1including a discharge pipe for the residue from the separated solids inthe vaporizing chamber and a measuring valve for said residue betweensaid chamber and pipe.
 4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 including adischarge pipe for the hot residue from said vaporizing chamber, and ajacket surrounding said pipe for preheating the incoming slurry by heattransferred from said pipe.